Succulents and More™

In my last post, I showed you my friend Kyle’s front yard in Sacramento. If you missed it, click here to check it out. Now let’s walk into the back. The Cécile Brünner rose above the gate to the backyard was still in bloom. This is an old-fashioned polyantha rose bred in France and introduced in 1881. It’s prized for its abundance of fragrant flowers. It doesn’t bloom for long, but when it does, it’s the center of attention. I missed the peak of the aloe bloom by a couple of weeks, but there was still plenty to see: The purple flowers on the left are from Alyogyne huegelii , a floriferous shrub from Western Australia The burgundy-colored leaves on the left are Hechtia ‘Wildfire’, always a standout even if its barbed leaves draw blood when you get too close Looking from the back patio towards the fence on the south side; the gate to the backyard is around the corner on the right With a garden as special as this, Kyle has every reason to smile Easter lily cactus ( Echinopsis oxygona )...

If you’ve followed my blog for a while, you’ve seen photos of my friend Kyle’s garden in Sacramento. (If not, click here to check out my previous posts.) Kyle is the most active gardener I know, continuously tweaking and refining. I get to see his garden quite frequently, and yet, every time I visit, I notice things that hadn’t been there before. No garden is ever finished, not really, and that’s doubly true for Kyle. He has boundless energy, and it flows right into his garden. I caught up with Kyle last week and took a bunch of new photos. I was going to squeeze them into one post, but there are so many it makes more sense to spread them out over two posts. This post is about the front yard. But before we dive in, take a look at this picture I took in December 2022: December 2022 Keep this photo in mind as you look at the pictures that follow. March 20, 2026 Kyle has gradually increased the elevation along the perimeter of the front yard by raising the soil level and adding tons (lit...